Nathan East will be unable to perform at the 58th annual Grammy Awards telecast Monday night because he will be performing at the 58th annual Grammy Awards telecast Monday night.

If that sounds like a musical paradox, well, that’s par for the course for this veteran bassist, arranger, singer and producer. Over the past four decades, he’s played on hundreds of albums by some of the biggest names in pop, rock, R&B, jazz, country, blues, gospel, EDM and more. He’s also performed several times on both the Grammy and Oscars telecasts.

In early January, East committed to perform during the 3^1/2 -hour Grammy telecast with Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, John Legend, Demi Lovato and Meghan Trainor as part of a salute to Richie. In late January, East was invited to perform with Lady Gaga and Nile Rodgers during their Grammy tribute to the recently deceased David Bowie.

• Continue Reading at the San Diego Union-Tribune

This is the kind of Jazz that’s ‘for the people’, and stems from a confidence level that only musicians that know they are excellent can provide. The songs are melodious, structured, and full of the kind of patterns that appeal to anybody.

“Silver” is a predominantly an instrumental body of work with ten tracks. Each one is unique with a diverse approach and tells its own story. The tracks are perfectly crafted to communicate a complex sentiment that make you feel the emotion behind the composition. It is exciting for me to follow Nathan’s bass lines, but I find myself really enjoying the fine details the rest of the band provides as well.There are plenty of opportunities for each of them to cut loose and show their stuff. I am thrilled about how well balanced this CD was engineered so you can hear each of the players clearly.

If you are already a Fourplay fan, you probably already have this CD. On the other hand, if you are just getting acquainted with Jazz this would be a great starting point. Start with Silver, then you can go back twenty-five years and see how this group has evolved into such a higher  musical entity.

This CD is a must-have!

Continue Reading at BassMusicianMagazine.com…

We’ve talked with bassist Nathan East about his performances on many big hits, including “Easy Lover,” “Get Lucky,” “Change the World” and “Footloose.” Aside from his recording career, his tenure with artists like Eric Clapton and his esteem as one of the most in-demand session bass players has put him in many unique situations, including several performances at the White House.

His most recent appearances at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue resulted in a pair of specials for PBS: The Gospel Tradition aired earlier this year, and featured East backing up Shirley Caesar, Darlene Love, Michelle Williams, Lyle Lovett and Aretha Franklin, and ‘A Celebration of American Creativity,’ which airs this Friday and features East playing alongside Smokey Robinson, Usher, James Taylor, Queen Latifah and more.

We talked to East about the thrill of playing for the president, the time he played with a president, and the other heads of state who have heard him play.

AllMusic: How overwhelming is it to perform at the White House?

Nathan East: It’s pretty exciting. Everything it takes to get in there, too, you’re constantly pulling out your ID, then you have to go through one thing at the street, one thing outside the White House, another thing inside with metal detectors and screenings, and then once you’re in there, it’s pretty exciting.

Continue reading the interview at AllMusic.com

We Asked Fourplay 5 Questions About Their ‘Silver Album’ Recorded At Sunset Sound

It’s hard to come up with a more evocative sound than a Fourplay song – the flowing funk undertones of drummer Harvey Mason and bassist Nathan East, and the wonderful keyboard work of Bob James support the memorable themes they have created for over 25 years. Their newest guitarist Chuck Loeb is joined by Fourplay alumni and Jazz guitar icons Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour on Silver, the newest album from this seminal group.

Composer, producer and keyboardist Bob James is well known for writing such evocative themes as “Angela”, a song so singular that it can serve as the theme of a sitcom as well as the backing track to the newest Cee Lo song. The Fourplay member/founder sat down with us in this edition of Deezer Five Questions:

Continue reading at DEEZER…

Bob James and Nathan East have been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental/A-Cappella category, for “Ghost of a Chance”, from  the album “THE NEW COOL”, at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

James and East teamed up for this project, each bringing their own previous Grammy experience to create something special.  James, prior winner of two Grammys, also wrote the theme song to the hit television series “Taxi”.  East is hot off of his own Grammy nomination for his first ever solo record, 2014’s “NATHAN EAST”, and a Grammy Record of the Year win for laying down the bass on Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”.

Check out the Grammy nominations releases from the L.A. Times, E-Online, Perez Hilton, the Kansas City Star, the San Diego Union Tribune, and NBC-San Diego!

Mike Ragogna: What? Fourplay’s been around for 25 years? The hell you say!

Bob James: You gotta love it! Here we are, Mike. Humbled by the math, but still thinking of adding some more arithmetic.

Nathan East: Hi Mike! It’s hard to believe 25 years since we started Fourplay but as they say “time flies when you’re having FUN!”

Chuck Loeb: Yes! Amazing…let’s do this!

MR: Cool. Before we get into the material on Silver, what are your thoughts about reaching that milestone?

BJ: Looking down at the roses beats pushing them up.

NE: When you embark on a career-defining journey with a gathering of musical-champions, in an exhilarating atmosphere like the vibrant music industry in 1990, it’s celebrated with the kind of energy that makes a milestone like this more likely.

CL: My situation in the band is unique, in the sense that I am the newest member of the band, and I’m just celebrating my fifth year as a member. This offers me some insight from a different perspective of the 25th anniversary. Back at the inception of the band I was a fan of all of the original members individually, and was just totally knocked out when I heard the collaboration on the original CD Fourplay. And so, I can offer my perspective as both an avid observer, and a member. I think the thing that contributes the most to the longevity of the band is the continual striving for excellence in all the facets of creating contemporary jazz: composition, improvisation, production, performance, and a strong connection with the listening audience. I know that the band hit those marks in the first 20 years, and it is my hope that they’ve continued to be met on the three CDs I have had the pleasure to have been involved with, including Silver.

Harvey Mason: From the outset of Fourplay, we insisted our project would not be a “one off” as we intended to follow the longevity model of the Modern Jazz Quartet, commonly known as the MJQ. The synergy was so very special why not continue making this great music. Twenty-five years is indeed a group milestone achieved by few, I’m proud and happy we’ve reached it. From my perspective it has certainly come quickly.

CONTINUE READING THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW AT THE HUFFINGTON POST

Record Reflections by A. Scott Galloway

25 years ago, a super group of contemporary jazz giants formed a quartet dubbed Fourplay and began the business of making evocative groove-scapes spiced with a tasty dollop of sensuality via soul-pop vocal stars and sexy covers of touchstones by boudoir masters Marvin Gaye and The Isley Brothers. Since that time, they’ve pretty much ditched the vocals and gone deeper into what I call movies for the ears. Fourplay’s new 10-song CD, Silver (Concord Records) – recorded at Sunset Sound Studio in Hollywood where they cut their self titled debut in 1990 for Warner Bros. – marks the band’s 25^th anniversary and is, fittingly, one of its finest most consistent CDs in some time.

Aside from said aural movie wonders, I find the highlights of this album (with all songs referencing silver in some constitution) are the slinky “Horace” (pianist Bob James’ homage to jazz legend Horace Silver, the great pianist and prolific “soul-jazz” composer who passed away in June 2014), the acoustic brushed elegance of drummer Harvey Mason’s “A Silver Lining,” guitarist Chuck Loeb’s “Precious Metal” – the most sensual and romantic of the songs featuring special guest Kirk Whalum – and bassist Nathan East’s “Aniversario,” a tasty slice of funk. Extra special are the returns of Fourplay’s previous guitarists: original member Lee Ritenour (who contributes the rich harmonically layered CD-closer “Windmill,” co-composed with old west coast studio friend “The Mase”) and Rit’s replacement Larry Carlton who joyfully teams with Loeb on the bluesy groove “Silverado” which feels like an Eddie Harris line buffed to signature Fourplay polish.

~ CONTINUE READING FULL ARTICLE

September 2015 – 25th Anniversary Tour (continue reading…)

THE NEW COOL is available NOW! Get yours here:
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Behind-the-scenes videos & more at http://thenewcoolalbum.com

Nathan talks about Bob’s brilliant talent for arranging music…
THE NEW COOL is coming… 9.18.15. Pre-order now and get TWO instant tracks from the new album: http://smarturl.it/tnc-preorder
More at http://thenewcoolalbum.com